Persons attempting to find a motive will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot will be shot.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Let's call it 43 Best Books for now

-- that way we can shoehorn a poetry collection and a translation into the mix, okay? Okay.

I'm sure I'll think of more, so this isn't final (I'm still reaching for 100). And I'm not going to rank them, just list them, with five exceptions:

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller. This gets my vote as #1.

Collected Poems/Selected Poems, by WH Auden. This is a tie for #2, so it takes up two slots. You have to get both, because there's stuff in Selected (like "September 1, 1939") that's not in Collected. Don't ask.

Trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnameable) by Samuel Beckett. #4. I'm counting this as one novel instead of three separate novels because it's my list, so it's my rules.

The Public Burning by Robert Coover. #5.

Here's the other 38 in no particular order:

HERZOG by Saul BellowTHE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham GreeneTHE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. CainTHE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald1984 by George OrwellLOLITA by Vladimir NabokovANIMAL FARM by George OrwellINVISIBLE MAN by Ralph EllisonSLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt VonnegutALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn WarrenIN COLD BLOOD by Truman CapoteCAT'S CRADLE by Kurt VonnegutNAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton JusterTHE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell HammettWIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean RhysWHITE NOISE by Don DeLilloTHE DEPTFORD TRILOGY by Robertson DaviesTHE ROBBER BRIDE by Margaret AtwoodBLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthyI, CLAUDIUS by Robert GravesAT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien THE CREAM OF THE JEST by James Branch CabellTHE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD by John le CarrèBURR by Gore VidalTHE BELL JAR by Sylvia PlathTHE BIG SLEEP by Raymond ChandlerHERLAND, THE YELLOW WALL-PAPER AND SELECTED WRITINGS by Charlotte Perkins GilmanTHE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER by William StyronJOY IN THE MORNING by PG WodehouseTHE EXECUTIONER'S SONG by Norman MailerTHE PAINTED BIRD by Jerzy KozinskiRED HARVEST by Dashiell HammettTHE GREEK PASSION by Nikos KazantzakisTHE GOLDEN SPUR by Dawn PowellTHE HEARTS AND LIVES OF MEN by Fay WeldonMATING by Norman RushANY HUMAN HEART by William Boyd